‘The best years in my life’

World War II bombers bring back memories

In front of a B-17 Wilbur Richardson, of Chino Hills, at left, chats with Carl Silber, at right. During WWII Wilbur was the ball turret gunner on a B-17 for 30 bombing missions in 79 days, including 2 on D-Day. Carl is the show's tour stop coordinator. They both rode on the plane from Orange County.
— Charlie Neuman / San Diego Union-Tribune/Zuma Pre

In front of a B-17 Wilbur Richardson, of Chino Hills, at left, chats with Carl Silber, at right. During WWII Wilbur was the ball turret gunner on a B-17 for 30 bombing missions in 79 days, including 2 on D-Day. Carl is the show's tour stop coordinator. They both rode on the plane from Orange County.
— Charlie Neuman / San Diego Union-Tribune/Zuma Pre

In front of a B-17 Wilbur Richardson, of Chino Hills, at left, chats with Carl Silber, at right. During WWII Wilbur was the ball turret gunner on a B-17 for 30 bombing missions in 79 days, including 2 on D-Day. ...
— Charlie Neuman / San Diego Union-Tribune/Zuma Pre

89 year old retired Air Force Col. Charles Shultz and his wife Kathleen, of San Marcos, got a close look at the B-17 behind them, and a B-24 they're walking to. He used to pilot a B-17's in WWII.
— Charlie Neuman / San Diego Union-Tribune/Zuma Pre

B-17 pilot Mac McCauley checks one of the plane's four engines for oil leaks after arrival to Palomar Airport. At left is the show's tour stop coordinator Carl Silber.
— Charlie Neuman / San Diego Union-Tribune/Zuma Pre

Two World War II-era bombers touched down at McClellan-Palomar Airport in Carlsbad on Monday ﻿and offered a glimpse into history.

For others, however, it was more than a glimpse. It was a walk into their past, when they practically grew up on the airplanes as young men fighting in a brutal war.

“As bad as it was, my experience in the service was the best years in my life,” said Sid Glugover, originally from Brooklyn and now a Rancho Bernardo resident.

Glugover flew 31 missions as a bombardier on a B-24, called The Liberator, mostly over the Pacific.

“What do you know at 19?” said Glugover, 85, as he admired the plane. “Everything was exciting.”

The B-24 is visiting as part of the Collings Foundation Wings of Freedom Tour, which will be at the airport through Wednesday. The foundation is a nonprofit dedicated to restoring historic aircraft.

A P-51 Mustang was scheduled to arrive Monday with the two bombers but didn’t make it because of a mechanical problem, said Allan Riker, a tour spokesman.

He said he didn’t know if it would arrive in Carlsbad before the tour departs, but mechanics would do their best to see that it does.

Wilbur Richardson of Chino Hills flew into Palomar aboard the B-17. He said he flew 30 missions as a ball-turret gunner during World War II, until he was wounded on a flight back from Berlin in 1945.

He said he always admired the B-17, known as the Flying Fortress.

“For combat, if you like flying, it was the airplane to be in,” Richardson, 87, said. “It flew flat, smooth, didn’t jump around. It took a lot of damage.”

Carl Silber Jr. of Mira Mesa knows the B-24 through his father, who was killed aboard one.

Silber said his father was a fighter pilot stationed in New Guinea when he flew to Australia for a rest in 1942.

On the flight back to New Guinea aboard a B-24 on Dec. 18, 1942, a mechanical problem forced the plane to turn back to Australia, and it became trapped in a tropical storm, said Silber, who was a small boy at the time.

The plane crashed into a mountain on Hinchinbrook Island on Australia’s northeastern coast, killing all 12 on board. Silber said he made a pilgrimage to the island in 1997 to see the plane’s remains and pay homage to his father.

“I love to fly in it,” Silber said of the B-24. “The sounds, the smells are the same he would have experienced.”